[GNOME32]

Which distro would you recommend? the only thing I really need this distro to do is connect to a wireless network with 128-bit encryption with my Realtek RTL Wireless Card. I tried this with Ubuntu, and my WC was recognized, but the darn network manager has bugs in it which cause it crash at every connectivity attempt. So, that is the only real request I have for a Linux distro.
thanks for any advice!!

[Elvandil]

Try Knoppix. If you can configure and connect OK with the Live CD, then you will be fine with it installed to disk. It supports a boat-load of hardware .

It used to be updated quite often, but 5.11 was so near perfect and bug-free that it has been around a while.

[GNOME32]

Thanks! I will start the bittorrent now!

[brokenhead]

Just a comment, because this issue has bugged me for over a year as well.

I have a Hawking wireless NIC to a Belkin router. Only recently have any distros included the drivers needed and all are kernel 2.6 and newer.

Great thing about Linux is the plethora of live distros! Try before you (don't-have-to) buy!

Here are the ones that worked for me:

Mandriva 2008 One
Knoppix 5.11
Ubuntu 7.10

After 3 years of trying, I have finally found a Linux to luv and that is Ubuntu 7.10. It sees my printer, my scanner, and my sound card. Most importantly, it recognized the wireless connection.

[monckywrench]

Kanotix and Sidux are both wireless-friendly and work well on laptops.

[Carlton]

There is a little tool you can use to help you decide which distro might suit you. It takes things like experience, 32 or 64 bit, wireless needs etc into account.

Here it is.

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

[RobLinux]

Quite amusing. Funnily enough it told me to use the distro I use! 2nd choice was a recent release I tested out in last few days, but unsuccessfully (due to removal of pdc202xx_old module and weird bug in the network setup).